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"It won't be easy or simple, but for the long-term economic and environmental viability of our winegrowing regions, we need to prioritize sustainability," says Sam Filler, executive director of the New York Wine & Grape Foundation (NYWGF). "But that doesn't just mean viticultural practices, although we do ultimately want to reduce our reliance on agrochemicals. It also means encouraging biodiversity around vineyards, creating environmentally responsible packaging, reducing energy output and thinking about the welfare of workers in the vineyard and the communities around our vineyards."
We want our community to think local and drink local, and for that, we need to do our part in keeping the area safe, beautiful, and healthy. All of these tactics for sustainability are anchored in the betterment of our crops, air, soil, and water. With that, we ask people to consider buying locally sourced sustainable products to do their part.
A constant that I’ve learned over the years is that, “it all starts in the vineyard.” These words couldn’t be truer. A sustainable, healthy vineyard results in a wine that showcases Long Island’s unique maritime terroir; there’s no greater benefit than that.
Sustainability makes us pay more attention to details both large and small. When you pay more attention to what you’re doing, you typically achieve better results. I believe that since we’ve been in the program our groundwater is cleaner, our vines are healthier, our workers are happier, and our wines are more delicious.
Long Island is an environmentally sensitive region, so the future of the industry lies in our ability to continue to be good stewards of the land. On the larger stage, our sustainable program has put us in contact with some of the great viticultural minds in the country.
Richie Pisacano brings an extremely valuable 38+ years of experience to Wölffer Estate. Long before the 55 acres were planted, Richie was the architect of many of the North Fork's best-known vineyards.
Lieb has always farmed sustainably. In 2005, Lieb received a USDA grant for “meeting high standards of conservation and protecting the environment.” Getting certified by LISW was a way to more formally commit to our standards and to ensure that we’re on the forefront of sustainable viticultural practices.
On the second of March, 14 days before we'd find out we could no longer do so, a few members of the wine trade had been gathered at a second annual lunch to taste a point about New York's Long Island AVA — by way of nine library red wines.
“The region continues to evolve, like a lot of regions do,” he says. “I think, early on, there wasn’t any information about how to make wine here, how to grow grapes here. We sort of had to write our own textbook and live it.” Olsen-Harbich now defines the wines of Long Island, broadly, as wines with low alcohol, profound aromatics, and a surge of elegance.
All our practices have proven to expose and accentuate our unique terroir at Roanoke Vineyards. In order to unleash terroir, you first have to identify it and believe in it. I was a skeptic for years about terroir, but once found, it has become intoxicating (pun intended). It's elusive and difficult to harness, but the gentler you are in the vineyard, and with the grapes, and the more you trust your intuition as to your decisions intended to present terroir, the more it will take hold and be expressed in your wines.